Donna Reed's career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films.
40 Facts About Donna Reed
2.
Donna Reed is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in Frank Capra's fantasy holiday film It's a Wonderful Life.
3.
Reed is known for her work in television, notably as Donna Stone, a middle-class American mother and housewife in the sitcom The Donna Reed Show whose character was more assertive and complex than most other television mothers of the era.
4.
Donna Reed received numerous Emmy Award nominations for this role and the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star in 1963.
5.
Donna Reed decided to move to California to attend Los Angeles City College on the advice of her aunt.
6.
Donna Reed completed her associate degree, then signed with an agent.
7.
Donna Reed had a supporting role in Shadow of the Thin Man and in Wallace Beery's The Bugle Sounds.
8.
Donna Reed was second billed in a children's film, Mokey.
9.
Donna Reed starred in Calling Dr Gillespie and Apache Trail, then did a thriller with Edward Arnold, Eyes in the Night, directed by Fred Zinnemann.
10.
Donna Reed had a support role in The Human Comedy with Mickey Rooney, a big film for MGM.
11.
Donna Reed was in Dr Gillespie's Criminal Case and The Man from Down Under, and was one of many MGM stars to make cameos in Thousands Cheer.
12.
Donna Reed personally answered letters from many GIs serving overseas.
13.
Donna Reed starred in See Here, Private Hargrove and Gentle Annie, a Western.
14.
Donna Reed was in The Picture of Dorian Gray and played a nurse in John Ford's They Were Expendable, opposite John Wayne.
15.
Donna Reed helped provide the story but did not appear in the final film.
16.
Donna Reed was top billed in a romantic comedy Faithful in My Fashion with Tom Drake which lost money.
17.
Donna Reed was borrowed by Paramount to make two films with Alan Ladd, Beyond Glory, where she replaced Joan Caulfield at the last moment, and Chicago Deadline.
18.
In June 1950 Donna Reed signed a contract with Columbia Studios.
19.
Donna Reed appeared in two films which teamed her with John Derek, Saturday's Hero and Scandal Sheet.
20.
Donna Reed had a cameo in Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder.
21.
Donna Reed was the love interest of Randolph Scott in Hangman's Knot, then was borrowed by Warner Bros for Trouble Along the Way with Wayne.
22.
Donna Reed was loaned out to play John Payne's love interest in Edward Small's Raiders of the Seven Seas.
23.
Donna Reed played the role of Alma "Lorene" Burke, girlfriend of Montgomery Clift's character, in the World War II drama From Here to Eternity.
24.
Donna Reed returned to MGM to act in The Last Time I Saw Paris.
25.
Donna Reed began guest starring on television shows such as The Ford Television Theatre, Tales of Hans Anderson, General Electric Theater and Suspicion.
26.
From 1958 to 1966, Reed starred in The Donna Reed Show, a television series produced by her then-husband, Tony Owen.
27.
Donna Reed was attracted to the idea of being in a comedy, something with which she did not have much experience.
28.
Donna Reed won a Golden Globe Award and earned four Emmy Award nominations for her work on the series.
29.
Donna Reed returned to acting in the late '70s, appearing in the TV movies The Best Place to Be and Deadly Lessons and a guest stint on The Love Boat.
30.
From 1943 to 1945, Donna Reed was married to make-up artist William Tuttle.
31.
Three years later, Reed married Grover W Asmus, a retired United States Army colonel.
32.
Donna Reed, who was a registered Republican, but showed amity to the Democratic Party, became interested in politics in particular during the Vietnam War when she became concerned that her oldest son, Tony, might be drafted.
33.
In 1967, Donna Reed became a peace activist and co-chaired the anti-war advocacy group, Another Mother for Peace.
34.
Donna Reed supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.
35.
Donna Reed supported Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy from Minnesota, a strong anti-war advocate, in the 1968 presidential election.
36.
Donna Reed died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, California, on January 14,1986, thirteen days before her 65th birthday.
37.
Donna Reed had been diagnosed with the illness three months earlier and was told it was at a terminal stage.
38.
Donna Reed's remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
39.
Reed's childhood home was located on Donna Reed Drive in Denison but was destroyed by a fire in 1983.
40.
Donna Reed was a role model and remains so to this day.